Q.
I have
emailed you before about having only one watering zone. Our lemon tree seems to
be doing worse every year. With only one irrigation zone unfortunately I am forced
to water every day in the summer. We
decided we should water these citrus trees by hand. So, we have two questions
please: How much water per watering and how often?
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| Homeowner Forced to Water with a Hose |
A.
Looks like fake grass was installed surrounding the tree. It is too perfect. This may be a problem
in future years due to numerous soil problems, primarily air reaching the tree
roots and compaction from people walking near it. Pull the fake grass away from
the tree to the size of the canopy. It is important that plant roots breathe
air. Some types of fake grass are better at that than others. Make sure enough
air is getting to plant roots.
How To Hand Water Citrus
Start watering this tree now with about fifteen
gallons each time (judging its size from your picture). As the tree increases
in size it needs more water; probably about every three or four years the area
under the tree canopy will need to become bigger to give it this. The tree will
max out at about thirty gallons each time it is watered. When an increase in
water is needed, remove more grass, to accommodate the amount of water applied.
The easiest way to give the tree more water and keep it from falling over will
be to increase the size of the area where water is applied to at least half the area of the canopy.
Use Moat or Donut
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| This is a basin at the bottom of a fruit tree in North Las Vegas. Both basin and bubbler..which this is..and drip irrigation are both efficient at this. |
Use a moat or donut shaped basin around
the tree for filling each time with a hose. The basin, and the inside being
flat, will hold water long enough to get it deeper in the soil. If the tree does
not have a moat or donut around it, it is difficult to put enough water in that
spot to wet the soil eighteen inches deep each time. Just putting a hose on it
will not work unless you water with a sprinkler or let the hose run slow a long
time. Using a moat or donut will fill the basin with water in about ten minutes
or less and keep it contained.